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Mitch Dunn is a Research Fellow within the UQ Composites group, in the school of Mechanical and Mining Engineering. He has interest in a wide range of material research activities, including functional composite materials, non-destructive evaluation, novel material systems, high-temperature applications, instrumentation, and novel RF/antenna applications in Defence.

Mitch received his PhD from UQ in 2018 for his work on the detection of laminar damage in composite laminates using nonlinear ultrasonic techniques. Recently, he has worked extensively on industry technology development and innovation projects focused around functional composite materials and conformal, load-bearing antenna structures.

Gordon holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, which focused on the application of machine vision, image processing and machine learning algorithms for modelling grade in froth flotation systems.

Gordon spent ten years working for the Victorian Government developing technical computing and modelling solutions. These included the development of the Environmental Systems Modelling Platform, a tool that aims to bring multiple environmental models and datasets into a single easy to use software package, and the development of the Native Vegetation Regulations Tool, to calculate the interactions between proposed clearings and models of rare and threatened species, and thereby determine the required offset credits. More recently, Gordon worked as a data scientist at the Victorian Centre for Data Insights, where he worked with a team focused on delivering innovative data driven solutions across the government sector.

Gordon now applies his data analytics, modelling and technical computing skills at the JKMRC where he works with the Advanced Process Prediction and Control group developing tools for improved time series analysis and visualisation of industrial data and comminution process models.

Dr Aditya Khanna is a Lecturer (Applied Mechanics) at The University of Queensland (commenced 2023). Prior to joining UQ, Aditya worked as an engineering consultant (dynamics and vibration) at Vipac Engineers & Scientists Ltd and held an adjunct lecturer appointment at The University of Adelaide. Aditya's research and industry consulting background is in the areas of: stress analysis, fatigue and fracture assessment, structural dynamics, vibration control, and non-destructive testing,

Dr. Mingyuan Lu was awarded her PhD from The University of Queensland in Febuary 2014. She has previously completed a Masters of Engineering (June 2009, Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, China), and a Bachelor of Engineering (June 2007, Materials Science and Engineering, Central south University, China).

Mingyuan has more than 10 years’ experience in research, and during this period she has gained extensive experience with material synthesis, mechanical mechanics, and material characterization including nanoindentation, nanoscratching, atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy, and focused ion beam milling (FIB); additionally,she has experience with structural and compositional analysis techniques (Raman, XRD, EDS, DTA, DSC etc.).

Mingyuan's contributions to the field of mechanical and materials engineering are listed below:

Materials mechanics

• (2015-2016) developed a new and successful FIB-machined micro-cantilever bending technique to study the fracture and interfacial properties of the protective intermetallic coatings on magnesium alloys: this technique can be applied to a wide range of materials, sub-surface structures and multilayered structures. Based on this methodology, they later developed a micro-bridge four-point bending technique. This approach can generate a “stable” interfacial delamination, and thus enables quantitative analysis of interfacial toughness.
• (2011-2014) developed an indentation-based methodology for assessing the interfacial adhesion of bilayer structures, in a joint project that was funded by WIN Semiconductor Co., Taiwan: the methodology developed has been used to test the reliability of SiN-passivated GaAs semiconductor wafer products.

Materials synthesis and processing

• (2015-current) developing a selective laser sintering process for the additive manufacturing of porous and biodegradable scaffolds, made from a biopolymer, for bone tissue engineering: this innovative process can produce scaffolds without the use of an artificial 3D model, and the scaffold has a unique interconnected pore architecture and large surface area making it suitable for bone tissue regeneration applications. The promising outcomes of the preliminary study have elicited strong support from UQ; it has received two generous internal grants (a philanthropic grant for an ECR in the field of engineering, and SEED funding) to enable further study in this field. The scaffolds will shortly be tested in a pre-clinical mouse model (funded by SEEM grant) to study biocompatibility and osteoconductivity.
• (2007-2009) developed high-performance refractory metallic materials using powder metallurgy processes: in this project, they discovered the effect of trace TiC, ZrC Carbide nanoparticles on the mechanical properties, sintering behaviour and microstructure of molybdenum alloys.

Dr. Yuanshen Lu began his current role at the University of Queensland (UQ) as a DECRA Fellow and Lecturer in September 2019. Previously, he was a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Griffith University, following several years of postdoctoral research experience at UQ. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2015.

Dr. Lu’s primary research interests lie in energy conversion and thermo-fluids within conventional and renewable energy systems, as well as hydrogen utilization. His current work focuses on heat engines (e.g., supercritical CO₂ power cycles), turbomachinery (e.g., wind turbines), and heat management in energy systems, including applications in heat exchangers, cooling towers, ground-source heat pumps, and thermal management in hydrogen-based steelmaking processes.

Dr. Lu is actively engaged with industry and has contributed to sectors such as thermal power generation, coal seam gas, HVAC, renewable energy, and steel industry. Leveraging his expertise in advanced experimentation and modeling, he is dedicated to driving innovations in energy harvesting, power consumption, and energy savings across a range of renewable applications. Dr. Lu currently serves as UQ’s Program Leader in the Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute (ASTRI) program, leading the Power Conversion team in developing supercritical CO₂ power cycles. He is also the Deputy Director of the Centre for Multiscale Energy Systems (CMES) at UQ.